


Mr. Brightside

by bluecanary101



Category: Project Nemesis Series - Brendan Reichs
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Multi, Post-Canon, Tack Has A Lot of Feelings, does this count as a rarepair if it's an ot3? idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 10:57:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20692382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluecanary101/pseuds/bluecanary101
Summary: “Anyway, I’ve reached my cap on feelings for the day, and we're not even out of bed yet.""There's been a lot of feelings lately, huh?""Way too many feelings. A disgusting amount of feelings."Or: Tack wakes up in a bed that isn't his own, has far too many emotions for one person, and in general has a really great morning.





	Mr. Brightside

Tack woke up slowly. The first thing he registered was that he was warm. Almost too warm, just bordering on uncomfortable, but still nice.

It didn't take much to figure out where all that heat was coming from. There were two other bodies in the bed with him. One was curled around his back, an arm heavy across his shoulders, a face pressed into his neck, legs tangled together. The other was sitting up, not touching him but still close enough for Tack to feel the heat radiating from her.

Tack almost freaked out. Almost. But he was feeling too good and too sleepy to get upset about anything. The panic couldn't make its way through the layers of hazy comfort wrapped around his brain.

Memories filtered through slowly. Kissing Min, kissing Noah. Trying to laugh it off, pretend it was a joke, and realizing he didn’t want to. Talking. Min asking him to stay the night with the confidence of someone who already knew he'd say yes.

It occurred to Tack that there might not be anything to freak out about. This might be completely fine. It might be more than fine.

He took his time rousing himself once he was secure in this maybe-knowledge. Part of him wished that he could stay in this half-awake state forever, just soaking in the moment. But he was getting a little too hot with all that extra body heat, and soon Mars's climate would make it impossible to bear.

Plus, Min was a too far away for his liking.

He fell asleep on his stomach, so looking up at her took some shifting and wiggling. He tried not to jostle Noah too much, but he apparently slept like a rock. When Tack finally got a look at her face he was unsurprised to see her staring down at him already.

She smiled at him. He smiled back. A giddy feeling bubbled up in his chest and he couldn't stop himself from giggling. Like a fucking schoolgirl, Jesus, what was wrong with him? He had a reputation to maintain here, dammit.

He actually didn't. Not with Min. But he was embarrassed enough that he had to bury his face back into the pillow, still grinning like an idiot.

God, he was just happy. Uncomplicatedly, unabashedly happy for the first time in what felt like years. What probably had been years, actually, or eons depending on how you were counting it.

Min snorted at him and carded a hand through his hair. He tilted his head into her hand, helpless to it.

"Good morning," she said softly. Usually when she just woke up Min's voice was all gravelly and she didn't bother to use whole words, so if she was speaking that clearly it meant she'd been up for a little while. Tack didn't know what to do with that, or what to think about the fact that he knew it in the first place.

"Morning. How long have you been watching us, weirdo?" he asked, muffled into the pillow.

"Just a little while. It's a good view."

"That's still creepy, Min."

"Oh, shut up." She shoved his head gently, then continued petting him. "It's just nice seeing you both safe and shit, I guess. I don't know, I like it."

"Hey, I don't actually mind. It's cute, in a stalkery kind of way." That earned him a sharp tug on his ear. Tack giggled again, and he could hear the smile in Min's scoff.

He was only making fun of her because he knew she wouldn't stop. If Min wanted to stare at them while they slept, Tack was perfectly fine with it.

They both fell silent. Min kept stroking his hair, slow, repetitive touches that almost lulled him back to sleep now that he didn’t have anything else to focus on. It was hypnotic.

Just as he was about to go back to sleep, Min spoke up again. "I never thought this would happen."

Tack dragged himself out of his doze and said, "This whole throuple business? Yeah, that kinda came out of left field."

"No, just," she trailed off. The hand in his hair came to rest on his shoulder. He almost made another throuple joke, but kept his mouth shut and waited for her to keep going. “Ok, this is going to get sappy, bear with me.”

“Sap away.”

Min sucked in a deep breath and said, "When we were little, everyone would always talk about how one day we'd get a job, have a family, all that shit. That never felt real to me. The murders were real, a future wasn't."

Ah. Okay. Sappy didn't quite cover this. Tack extracted himself from the pillow and looked up at her again, trying to gauge her expression.

"And then the apocalypse happened, and the Program, and fucking _Sophia_,” she spat Sophia’s name with the same venom as always, “and I never knew what I wanted my life to be like to begin with, but that just obliterated everything. I couldn’t hold onto anything, not even you or Noah. So, like, what the hell? What was I supposed to do after that?”

"Min," he said, trying to come up with some way to comfort her, or apologize, or something.

"Shush, I'm trying to explain myself." She raked a hand through her hair. "Basically what I’m saying is that my idea of a future was always fucked up, and it got more fucked up over time. That’s it. And that’s not even the important part.”

She moved to lie on her side, facing Tack, and pinned him with a look so intense that he wanted to look away. "The important part is that I loved you back then. Before any of this apocalypse shit happened, I loved you. But I was a kid, and I didn't know...what to do about it, or how to deal with it. Y’know?"

Tack didn’t know what to do with himself, so he reached over and took her hand. "Yeah, I think so," he said. 

"I'm sorry for taking so long."

“Don’t be. No matter what shit happened before, I'd," oh God, he really was going to say this out loud? "I would rather it be like this. We're better like this." That part, at least, he was sure of.

Min smiled. "Good." She stared at their interlocked fingers for a moment before speaking again, sheepish all of a sudden. "So, all this to say, if this is the future I’m getting, then I like it. It’s not, uh," she briefly released Tack's hand to wave hers around, "exactly what people meant when they talked about what our lives would be like. But it's mine. And you're both in it, which is nice."

Tack still had no idea how to respond. What he ended up saying was a choked up, "Come 'ere." Not the most eloquent, but it got the job done. He turned onto his side and Min wiggled into his arms, pressing securely against his chest.

He blinked hard at the cabin wall over her head, trying to keep himself from crying.

“You better appreciate that speech, I’ve been trying to plan it all morning,” Min grumbled into his collar bone, “And I didn’t even say what I was planning to say, all that was just improvisation.”

“It was pretty good.” She could probably tell that it was good because of how close to tears he was. Oh god, he must look so lame.

“Thanks.” She didn’t sound like she was judging him, she just sounded relieved. “Anyway, I’ve reached my cap on feelings for the day, and we're not even out of bed yet." 

"There's been a lot of feelings lately, huh?"

"Way too many feelings. A disgusting amount of feelings."

"Noah’s missed the window for feelings. There will be no more allowed for the rest of the day."

"None." Min agreed. Then after a beat she extracted herself from his chest and said, "But just to clarify, I love you. A lot.”

“You might have mentioned that at some point.”

“Well I kept trying to tell you before, but you wouldn't get the message. So, to be clear, I love you in a very not platonic way."

Tack had a sudden and startlingly vivid flashback to the time she told him she loved him after reviving the entire sophomore class. After reviving the entire sophomore class for him, even though it ran the risk of killing them all. And, oh, okay then, that changed some things. Shit.

He didn’t know how to process that information. If he tried, he would definitely start crying. So he swallowed and said, "Last night would be kind of hard to explain if it was platonic."

"Exactly."

"I love you too. You know I do." He didn’t even think before saying it, just stated it as a fact. Because it was.

"Yeah, I know."

"Fuck," he said. Another dopey grin was growing across his face. "_Fuck_, I love you so much." All at once, it hit him that he could say this now, as much as he wanted. Which was kind of a lot. He’d been waiting for this for half a decade. “I love yoooouuu, I love you.” He felt like he couldn’t stop. “I love both of you. It’s, like, a problem.”

“It’s not,” Min said. She was grinning just as big as he was, eyes sparkling with it. God, he fucking loved her. He loved both of them so much it was insane. So much for not having any more feelings.

“Noah, hey, wake up,” Tack briefly released his grip on Min so he could elbow him awake.

Noah grunted.

“I love you.”

This time he hummed, kissed the back of Tack’s neck, and cuddled closer so he was flush against his back, spooning him. Close enough that Tack could feel his stomach expanding with every breath. It didn’t even matter that he didn’t say it back, the thing with them was still new and he wanted Noah to be sure.

It’s just that Tack was already sure, with a bone deep certainty that felt like it was written in him since birth. Same way he knew he was in love with Min all those years ago. 

That’s always how it worked with him. He loved hard and fast, and historical evidence said that he couldn’t stop once he started. For a long time, he figured that was his problem. He knew he could be too much, too in your face about his feelings the way he was too in your face about pretty much everything.

But they were inviting it, weren’t they? Noah was still a solid, steady weight at his back, and Min was looking at him with this joy in her eyes that he didn’t see often. They were bracketing him in like they wanted him there. Maybe they wanted everything else he was willing to give them.

The thought made Tack want to jump around and shout a little bit. Only reason he didn’t was that he’d have to extract himself out from between them, which wasn't an option. He felt like he was about to explode with all the emotions he had packed inside him.

“I love you, I love you, I love you,” he chanted. It was the only release valve he could think of. “I love you, I love y-”

“Tack,” Min interrupted, looking amused. She traced a finger across his lips and then swooped in for a kiss, gave him something to channel all his bursting supernova feelings into. It was like she could read his thoughts. Hell, maybe she could, they’d known each other for long enough.

They kept having to break apart because Tack couldn’t stop grinning and Min kept laughing at him. Didn’t help that Tack was still new to this whole kissing thing. Noah was an _excellent_ teacher the night before, but his technique was probably still lacking a bit.

It was good anyway. So fucking good, because it was so them. Giggly and light and happy, the way Tack always imagined it would be.

Noah was beginning to stir a little, but he stayed where he was. An anchor keeping Tack from getting swept away, warm and grounding. Twp years ago Tack wouldn’t have believed that was possible.

It hit him, mid kiss, that he wanted to get to know Noah as well as he already knew Min. The desire was so strong it ached, crashed against the shaken-up bottle of soda fizzing over inside him and everything became too much, too much and not enough at all.

He was so warm.

He broke the kiss for the last time, panting and unable to get his head in any semblance of order. He couldn’t even get his eyes to open. For the second time in the last five minutes, he thought that he must look incredibly, unbearably lame. And for the second time, no one else seemed to mind. Min just kept kissing his face, his throat, anywhere she could reach.

Tack started laughing again as soon as she stopped, because it was the only thing he could do.

“What’s so funny?” Noah murmured. Tack felt the vibrations of it in his body. Before he could reply, Noah started tracing slow circles on Tack's side. It seemed like he wasn't even thinking about it, an unconscious motion that he was doing just because Tack happened to be there, the way he'd fiddle with a blade of grass. It was so simple but it struck him down to the core.

“I love you,” he said one last time, quieter, almost a whisper. Min stroked the side of his face gently. 

They were both touching him like he was delicate, breakable, and somehow that was just as overwhelming as before. The vulnerability if it, letting them make him vulnerable.

Strange that he welcomed the feeling now after spending so long trying to avoid it.

For some reason he thought about how he should be overheating by now but wasn’t. Like the universe was bending over backwards to keep him comfortable. The universe never seemed to be on his side before, but for just this morning it was. Which was magical thinking bullshit, he knew, but he was in the mood for magical thinking bullshit today.

He pried his eyes open after what felt like a long time just lying there and basking in them. “God, _feelings_,” he said, in an attempt to explain himself.__

_ __ _

_ __ _

“Fuckin’ feelings, man,” Min agreed solemnly.

Noah made another wordless grunting noise. Apparently he was as bad at mornings as Min usually was. It was going to be interesting to navigate that, Tack was already doing the mental math to figure out how insufferable he could be without annoying them for real.

They had time to figure it out. If they really did want him the way it seemed, which at this point was almost impossible to argue against. Even the deepest, most insecure part of Tack, the part that he hated to admit existed, had a hard time coming up with ways to ruin this. They were both being pretty clear, in their own way.

It wasn’t a maybe anymore. This was good. The realization settled Tack more than anything.

There would be plenty more mornings like this. Plenty more opportunities to make them feel as safe and loved as he felt right now. Plenty of time to learn their patterns, Min’s new ones and all the ones he never knew Noah had.

It was almost unbelievable that they were giving him that. But, hell, he wasn’t going to question it.

“The future, yeah?” he said to Min. Asked. He couldn’t tell which it was. Noah was probably confused, but whatever, he could deal.

She traced over his cheekbone and smiled like he just figured something out and she was proud of him for it. “The future.”

**Author's Note:**

> i dont even know if this is good but i have to post it so i can stop using it as an excuse to not study for my fucking test tomorrow
> 
> lets just pretend i wrote the 15k long lead up to this already
> 
> edit: YES i just made a minor title change yes i am ridiculous no u cannot judge me for it


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